Boosting economy through starch export

The inventor of centrifugal base extractor system, Suleiman B. Famuro has said that Nigeria has great potential in human and natural resources that can propel her to become one of the 20 most advanced economies of the world as envisaged in her vision 20:20:20.

He also said that with centrifugal extractor, Nigeria will no longer spend over $1billion annually to import starch.

Mr. Famuro said Nigeria being one of the highest producers of cassava in the world; she can also be net exporter of starch if the hydraulic press used in the extraction of starch is done away with.

He maintained that ennobling attitudes do not come unexpectedly. Rather they are imbibed through conscious efforts.

“No doubt, Nigeria is blessed with huge human and natural resources, but without the necessary technological expertise and the political will to harness the vast resources, these blessings cannot be converted to assets,” he said.

Speaking with Newsextra in Ilorin, the United States of American-trained industrial engineer said: “If we are able to replace the hydraulic press with centrifugal base extractor system, Nigeria will become a net exporter of starch.

“Some time ago, the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said Nigeria spends over $1billion to import starch. This is ironic as Nigeria claim to be the highest producer of cassava in the world. Cassava starch is one of the best. From experiment, every 25 per cent of garri that we produce is starch wasted. That means that every four cups of garri produce one cup of starch that is wasted. In the whole of Africa, nowhere is this equipment used.”

He added that the machine is capable of separating water, juice, milk or oil from any agricultural product that is pulverised.

Continuing, he said: “To remove water from cassava, it takes up to five hours. But with our designed extractor, it takes only five minutes to achieve much more as we combine washing extraction and filtration all in one equipment. It is the only equipment you can use to make starch from already dried crops. It makes over 2,000 revolutions per minute.”

He said: “I appeal to government to look into this simple technology and support it. As it is now, we have been trying to mass-produce but that is not possible without demand. Since I have been working on it, there has not been any support from government institution except National Office of Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP) that patented it.

“I have gone round many government establishments and research institutes but there has not been any official response from them.

“But when the CBN management saw it, they invited me to attend and demonstrate the product at their event. Yet, nothing has been done in terms of rendering some helps.

“This is why I attended the recently-concluded South-West Business Forum because I know development is priority.

“The Federal Government is not utilising the money at its disposal to lift the people. I commend the Minister of Agriculture, Dr Adewunmi Adesina for the good job he is doing to revive agriculture. When some people opposed the use of cassava as source for bread on the basis that it is injurious to health, the minister deflated this argument and even supported his argument with very powerful, analytical and science-based reasons that projected cassava to be healthier than bread made of wheat.”

He, however, expressed his disappointment in lack of proper implementation of fine policies in Nigeria, saying that usually is the problem. He added that building big plants does not benefit people at the grassroots, even as he queried why government couldn’t reduce unemployment at that level? The reason, he said, is because big plants will fail as there is no logistics to support them.

“I have been doing some engineering research particularly on how to improve local technology. I was particularly interested in cassava processing. After studying the local ways of processing garri, fufu and other products from cassava, I noticed that a very important by-product of cassava, starch, is wasted in the process.

“I decided to apply my knowledge of engineering science to see how one can process cassava without losing the starch. This is how I was able to develop and design a centrifugal base system which I submitted to National Office of Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP).

“It was unique; even as it was different from the way centrifuge based machines are made. After searching the web, they discovered that what I did is unique and new. So, it was patented to me.

“Then I continued work in order to develop the physical products from the design. This I did and demonstrated in Abuja in 2009. I invited stakeholders like NBE, NAPEP and some foreign embassies. Since there was no actual interest from any individual or government agency in what I was doing, I continued and finally put in place a commercial sample now ready for production.”

Mr. Famuro stated that he has been demonstrating this product at fairs. He said he had attended the KWACCIMA fair in Kwara State.

He hinted that when two newspapers published the work, a group of people in the United States saw the publications and invited him to participate in Meka Fair Africa in Lagos this year. The fair aims at bringing together innovators all over Africa.

“The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was there and she gave me words of encouragement. Later on, I was invited to attend the South-West Grassroots Business Forum and I addressed the business group.

“I believe this technology will lift women in cassava processing. This is because I discovered that the starch that is pressed away is substantial. In addition, the women who have been feeding Nigerians with garri and cassava products should not be pushed aside when an additional wealth is generated from cassava.

“In terms of using cassava as component of flour to make bread, I noticed that the implementation strategy of the Federal Government seems to have pushed these women aside.

“Perhaps, government thinks they don’t have the equipment and the process they are using is not hygienic. But with the centrifugal extractor which I designed, these women can be brought in to participate. By so doing, the wealth that will be generated in using cassava in bread making will be beneficial to the women,” he said.

Giving a brief history of his work experience, the engineer said: “I worked at the Kwara State Investment Corporation as Head of Project Department for about five years. Since then, I have been working as industrial development consultant.

“I brought Polar into Nigeria and initiated some innovations in bottling industry which I demonstrated in Polar. Polar was the first bottling plant in the world to use unitary bottling system to bottle various brands of soft drinks,” he said.

2 thoughts on “Boosting economy through starch export”

Kudos to you Mr. Famuro, the Good Lord will surely see you through. This is why the brightest brains are lost to ”Brain drain” syndrome.If you are not valued in your home, and someone outside recognizes you are Gold to behold, they will surely shower you with the goodies in order to have you for keeps. In almost all relevant fields of study in the world, Nigerians hold the ace. These are the good brains that leave the country out of frustration. Mr. Famuro should be a “Hot cake”, in the political parlance “a beautiful bride”. Where are our Policy makers? This is a machine that will transform the cassava value chain. For sure the political class would have been more interested if the machine could convert Dollars to a micro chip, with which you can re convert the chip to physical Dollars on arrival abroad without detection; our treasury looters would have engaged Mr. Famuro without qualms. I bet this nation, let a “Chinese” buy this machine from Mr. Famuro, they will cannibalize it ship it to China, add one or two things, and the “Idiots” we are, we will import it from China and waste scares foreign exchange. “Why are we not proud of our colour as a people”? No nation truly develop relying on others for what they can do cheaply. I’m interested, and will endeavour to reach out to you via NOTAP, since your contact information was not included in the write up. God bless you Mr. Famuro, and God bless Nigeria!!!